Proposal in Parliament Might Stop FM Switch-off in Norway

Widespread political concern over DAB radio shortcomings

The Parliament - Stortinget-  will this fall decide if the FM switch-off for Norwegian national radio should be postponed. Center Party (Sp) member from Nordland, Janne Sjelmo Nordås confirms that the Sp will submit a proposal which will convince Stortinget to conclude that the digitization of radio should be discontinued. Too many complain poor DAB coverage, and therefore we should postpone the FM switch-off, says Sjelmo Nordås.I  receive messages from many indicating that they are not receiving the DAB signal or the quality is really bad, she says to the public radio broadcaster NRK.

Largest Digital Radio Brand Sold After Losses

Sale of Pure signals setback for DAB development 

The British company Imagination Technologies has sold digital radio manufacturer Pure to an unknown Austrian investment company, AVenture AT GmbH, for £2.6m in cash. The deal also gives the buyer an option to buy one of Imagination Technologies’ properties in Hertfordshire for £4.5m. The cash will be used to reduce debts, Imagination Technologies says.

Mobile Broadband the Fastest Growing ICT in Human History

 Increasingly a game-changing challenge for the broadcasting industry

The 2016 State of Broadband report has been released by the UN Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development: At the global level, the total number of mobile cellular subscriptions will reach 7.4 billion by the end of 2016, according to the latest ITU estimates, with almost half of these subscriptions for mobile broadband. GSMA estimates that there were 4.7 billion unique mobile subscribers worldwide by the end of 2015 (63% of the global population). 6,5 billion smartphone subscriptions are forecast by 2022.

Another 77 Frequencies For Local FM Radio in Denmark

DAB replacing FM is not yet visible on the horizon.

All broadcasting licenses for local FM radio in Denmark expires at the end of 2017. Before new allocation of frequencies for local radio during next year, the Energy Board has presented a list of 103 vacant frequencies in the FM band. Of these 77 are new frequencies, while 26 are "old" and still vacant. A total of 635 local frequencies will be assigned

Flop For DAB Radio in Poland

Radio listeners and private broadcasters are not interested

So far only 1500 radios with DAB + have been sold in Poland (with a population of 40 million). This is seen as a major failure as there have been invested four million zloty annually in broadcasting since 2010 according to the magazine Satkurier.pl. Barbara Stanisławczyk head of Polskie Radio - the public broadcaster, believes for the future of radio it is evident that Poland should continue with analog FM and also the Internet.

DAB Critics Slam Radio Revolution in Norway

Forced digitalization is an embarrassing exhibit of nation-building with no vision.

Static is rising over Norway’s plans to literally turn off its FM radio network next year and replace it with DAB. As the date for launching the FM phase-out draws closer, Norwegians

are waking up to the fact that their traditional AM/FM radios will no long work, and protests are pouring in, writes NewsinEnglish.no in a comprehensive article.